


Restricted reading

by naturegirlrocks



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Loki reads romance, M/M, Minor Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 04:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2494223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naturegirlrocks/pseuds/naturegirlrocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki is trapped in a cell underneath Avengers tower. He bides his time, but the entertainment is starting to get to him. Are they trying to brainwash him with romance novels? The best he can do is to create some mischief for his jailers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restricted reading

You would might think being in a specially designed prison cage five floors under the ground of a high-security skyscraper in the middle of a very large city on Midgard would be boring for someone who only had lived about a third of his estimated five-millennia lifespan, but it wasn't. It's actually rather entertaining. Especially since all you need is a bit of patience and the knowledge that you will outlive all your captors. 

Except for Thor, Loki sighs to himself. Though he is a few decades younger than his adoptive brother, and Thor is in a more accident-prone position, so there is that. The thought isn't as happy as expected. 

Not that the mortals are his real captors, mind you. Loki more or less voluntarily surrendered himself to the saving heroic hands of Midgard after his faked death had been unravelled and Odin had been shaken awake. Though by that time Loki had already become tired of ruling, it wasn't at all what it was hyped up to be. Too little chaos and too many rules. 

He glanced at the so called 'digital clock' on the wall with its changing four red numbers that are visible even in the dark. It was fairly easy to learn since a full twenty-four cycle matched the daily turn of the planet (he can even feel it slowly rotating and it's disturbing, Midgard is the only one of the nine realms that moves). 

Loki has been there for nine days now. He had spent that time being quiet, reading, and observing. He knows that they think that he is lulling them into a sense of security, and they are right. It was about time for him to stir the pot and create some mischief. What else could he do? 

His prison and the people around it operates according to which numbers are shown on the digital clock. Though he admits that the prison itself is more time-accurate then the people. It's because it's run by an artificial intelligence. 

Things are most likely to happen when the last two numbers turns to zero-zero, second likely at thirty, and third likely at both fifteen and forty-five. Wholes, halves, and quarters, Loki thinks. All his lights are turned on at seven and thirty, and out at twenty-three and zero zero. Usually in the dark he lies awake watching the numbers turn, calculating the even intervals. 

The numbers are now showing seventeen and twenty-nine, and Loki is feeling a bit tense. If he ever gets visitors it's most likely sometime between seventeen thirty and nineteen thirty. It's not that he doesn't like visitors, it's just that he never knows who it's going to be and never have time to school his facial expression accordingly. 

For instance if he expects Thor he can look more relaxed than if it's Romanoff. Loki can smile at Stark, because he is sometimes funny, but not at Rogers or Fury. He can be snappy with Barton but not with Banner. With every first expression he gets wrong he feels the visitor has the upper hand on him. He has opted for looking as bored as he can while he waits. Sometimes no one comes and he relaxes. 

Five turns of the numbers, minutes as they are called, Loki has a visitor. It's Rogers. Loki tries too look relaxed. Rogers never raises his voice and he always brings gifts. At least that's what he did the two other times he has visited so far. 

"I brought you a few new books," the soldier says. 

Rogers apparently receives a lot books from people that feel that he's missing out on the modern world, and he feels Loki can do with the same. The captain slides the books, one by one, in through the food-slot. There are seven of them. Loki gets up to catch them before they fall on the floor. The books may be of the inferior 'paper-back'-kind, but they are still books and Loki respects that. 

Loki looks over the titles and the pictures on the covers, more romance novels. He imagines the Avengers having meetings deciding what he can and can't reed. He knows for a fact that humans has books about war, murder, great suffering, crimes, and magic. Yet he is stuck with reading about women embarrassing themselves to get a man, or about men trying to find out if they love their hobby or their girlfriend the most. Some are admittedly amusing, but it gets old quickly. 

Also they make Loki kind of sad since he doesn't love anyone in the way the people in the books do. Not that he is missing any of that, but the lopsided entertainment was getting to him. 

"Do you like these kind of books, Captain?" Loki asks. 

"They're alright," Rogers shrugs. 

Rogers has been quite depressed lately, Loki noticed. Something heavy is laying on the good man's shoulders. Loki wonders if he can use it in some way. 

"So you believe in true love then? The kind of love these books are describing? Is there a fair maiden out there waiting for you to just whisk them away in your strong arms, or are you hoping for the opposite? Who does your heart yearn for, Captain?"

Rogers looked pained. There was someone, Loki could tell, but it was a doomed relationship, at least from the Captain's point of view. Again he makes plans to use it to his advantage. Rogers shifts uncomfortably. 

"Not necessarily," he sighed. "Though some people might be more suited for each other than others."

"Who are you suited for then?" asked Loki casually examining one of the books.

"I don't know," Rogers looked at his hands and gave a short joyless laugh. "Maybe I missed my shot."

Loki waited for something more but he knew that the captain would already have said too much for his own comfort. It was obvious that his depression was tied to another person, and that that person is very dear to him. Loki pretended not to care and started to read the first page of one of the new books, 'The Diary of Bridget Jones'.

Rogers wrought his hands and let Loki read about ten pages before stiffly getting up with an awkward goodbye. Loki watched him flee the room with a small smile and returned to the book, it had potential to be slightly amusing.

About ten minutes later, or twelve to be exact, Loki got his second visitor. He reluctantly marked his place in the book with a finger and looked out through the glass at the sardonic face of Tony Stark. 

"What a sight," the inventor mocked. "The would-be conqueror of the world, in a fish-tank surrounded by chick-lit."

"The fish-tank is of your construction, Stark," Loki smiled evenly. "And if the term 'chick-lit' refers to the books you are quite welcome to change the genre." 

"Don't blame me! I tried to give you all of the Tolkien-books, but I was voted down," Stark shrugged and walked over to the wall the clock was on and started to measure it with a tape. "I thought I'd install a TV for you, though I doubt you'll get to see anything more than toddler-cartoons, children's movies, and chick-flicks. Though some of them aren't half bad." 

Loki had only a vague concept of what Stark was talking about, but pretended to look mildly interested. He placed an unused napkin as a bookmark and stood up from his seat on the bed. Stark was still measuring, seemingly not happy how little space there was on the wall, and muttering something about surround-sound. 

"Stark?"

"Hn?" Stark made a mark on he wall with a small pencil. 

"You are the master of this tower, are you not?"

Stark turned, a little startled how close to the glass Loki had moved, but then quickly got his old smile back. 

"The big 'A' on the outside used to be part of my name, before your army knocked down the other letters. The name has changed, it's still my building. So yes, I'm the ’master’."

"As the master..." Loki leaned against the glass "...is it really part of your job to see to the prisoner's entertainment?"

"My tower, my tech, sweet cheeks," Stark put his measuring tools away. "Be happy that I care, some people were even against you getting a blanket."

"I'm touched that you care," he gave a fake flirtatious lick of his lips. 

Stark gave him an even faker wink back. Then he left. 

Loki returned to the many troubles of Bridget, most of them revolving around alcohol, clothes, and men. There were no more visitors that day and the lights went out at twenty-three zero-zero. He had already finished the book twelve minutes before then and was so deep in his contemplation over it that he first didn't notice the darkness. 

////////////:

Breakfast was delivered by Banner. Loki had gotten over the lack of servants the first day, the irony that he was waited upon by the people he had failed to subjugate wasn't lost in him. The fact that it was Banner, who had delivered the defeating blow, who most often gave him food was even more ironic. 

Banner pushed the tray inside the slot, Loki caught it. It was something new he hadn't eaten before. 

"What is this?" 

"Dried fruit, coconut-yoghurt, slice of fresh pineapple, and red vanilla tea," Banner half-smiled. "Try it, it's good."

"Thank you," Loki walked back to his bed with the tray, feeling both suspicious and adventurous about breaking new culinary ground.

"You up for some tests today?" Banner was already setting up a small table with strange instruments. 

"Do I have a choice?" asked Loki biting into the strange pineapple fruit, finding it both sweet and tart. 

"No." 

"Very well then."

After he had eaten Loki forced himself to be very calm as Banner entered the cage. He didn't want to trigger the beast in any sense, especially not in his magically depleted state. 

He let the doctor take several small phials of blood, let him do some radiation measurements, and allowed some hairs to be pulled from his head. Banner listened to his heart and lungs, held a light to Loki's eyes, ears, and even down his throat. He inflated a strange pillow around Loki's arm, and brought a small mallet to his knees, making them jerk. 

Banner had tried do the exact same things to him ten days ago after he first arrived, it hadn’t ended up good for any of them. This time Loki was more gracious to undergo them. He still didn't like it. 

As Banner was packing up his things Stark and Barton entered carrying several large boxes between them. Stark greeted Loki with a grin, Barton was more restrained. 

"What are you doing?" asked Banner, stepping out of the cage and locking it after himself by pressing his palm to a plate.

Barton put down his large rectangular package. 

"Tony wants to drive Loki insane by showing him reruns of Sesame Street and Danielle Steel-movies."

"I still don't understand why I can't show him 'Weekend at Bernie's', it's a classic."

"No," Barton raised a threatening finger in Stark's face. "We talked about this!" 

"He needs to learn about the modern world!"

"Dragging a corpse around to beach parties isn't the modern world!"

Banner looked like he was going to burst into laughter. Loki was slightly fascinated. From what he glimpsed from his books this was how parents, who weren't Asgardian royalty, argued over their children. Odin and Frigga had never argued over him until he was well into his adulthood. It almost felt like Stark and Barton cared about him. It was a strange feeling.

"No weapons..." Barton was counting off some list "...no death by unnatural causes, no wars, no violent fights, no magic, no fantasy, no sci-fi, no horror..."

"Can I show him porn?" Stark gave an innocent smile, as he began unpacking one of the boxes. 

"You are disgusting," Barton shook his head. 

"Is that a yes?"

"Fine, but none of that BDSM or freaky shit."

Stark chuckled. Loki had no idea what they were talking about, but guessed it would be to his advantage. 

They all left him about twenty minutes later. Stark had given Loki a small remote device to the TV with instructions how to work it. Barton and Banner carried Loki's empty food tray and the used boxes. 

Loki watched the digital clock change five times, to eight-five-seven, before getting up to examine the remote. He had listened to the list if restrictions that Barton had blurted, and guessed that his tilted entertainment would remain. 

After twenty-two minutes watching a talking cloth-frog trying to teach him how to count to ten Loki was convicted that Stark really was trying to drive him mad. Not that he wasn't mad already, he smirked to himself as he turned the machine off, and started to read a book about a rich woman who posed as her own housekeeper because she had fallen in love with the handsomely rugged gardener. 

About halfway into the book Loki looked up from the pages. There was movement outside the door, like of someone who didn't have access but tried to get in anyway. The clock showed ten-seventeen, Loki put his napkin between the pages and put the book down beside him on the bed. 

A few moments later the door opened and a large muscular man entered. Loki didn't know this man, and there had been no clues from his days of observation. Ah, the lovely element of surprise and chance. 

The man was wearing black clothes of a soft fabric, he had a hood but it didn't hide his shoulder length brown hair or dark troubled eyes. Nor did it hide that the man's left hand was made of metal. Loki was intrigued. 

"Who are you?" demanded the intriguing man in a harsh voice. 

"Just a mere prisoner." Loki smiled, rising from the bed and walking smoothly to the thick glass. 

"I didn't know they took prisoners," said the man, touching the barrier with his metal hand and making a clinking noise. "Steve should have told me," he added in a low tone. 

"It's highly political," Loki shrugged. "So you are a friend of the Captain?"

"Oldest of friends."

The man was now examining the lock-plate to the cage. Loki held his breath for a moment, but then let it out with a sigh. 

"You shouldn't do that," he said in a sad but kind tone. "They will be very angry with you. And truth is, even if I would be grateful to escape, I have no place to go or any allies to trust. I'm going to wait it out, I have the time."

"I would stop you from escaping," said the man, meeting his eyes through the glass. 

Loki recognised some very familiar insanity in there, it made him feel, almost against his will, a sympathetic bond. He answered the look with one of his own, the predator with the higher rank emerged from his gaze. 

"No," he said. "You couldn't."

The man backed away. Loki turned back to relax on his bed. The man hesitated, looking at the outer door, weighing his options. 

"Do you know anything about movies?" Loki asked, playing with the remote. "They have given me access to some but I don't really know the difference."

"I haven't seen a movie in seventy years, I doubt I could be of help."

The man gave Loki one last appraising look before leaving. 

"Come back if you change your mind" Loki took up his book again, it was just getting good. 

/////

At eleven-thirty Stark arrived with a tray of food. He greeted Loki with a toothy grin. 

"Dinner's up, Legs. And perk up, I got you dessert as well. Cheesecake!" Stark pushed the tray inside the slot. "I saw on the security cams that you got a visit from our resident creeper. Don't let those crazy eyes fool you, Bucky really is quite screwed up."

"Your reassurance is heartwarming," 

"You're just sad that he didn't let you out so you could kill us all in our beds."

"There is still time," Loki glared at the man. "Why don't you draw me a map to your bedroom so I know were to go first?"

”Oh, Rudolph," Stark shook his head in pity. "If you want to come in my bedroom, you got to work up better tricks than that."

"Must you turn everything to sex?" 

"Best parts of my day."

Loki looked over the food, it seemed to be small fried pieces of fish covered in breadcrumbs next to mashed up potatoes, and that red spicy sauce that Migardians were so strangely fond of. No salad, Banner would have given him a salad. The dessert looked nice though.

"Who is Bucky?" 

"Come on!" huffed Stark who had been looking at Loki looking at the food. "First you flirt with me and now you ask about another man. Do you usually go hot and cold like this?"

"Oh, you have no idea how cold I can become."

"You mean the snowman-thing? Yeah, Thor told us about that. Does your nose grow orange and your eyes coal?"

"Blue and red, actually," Loki took one of the fish-things with his fingers and dipped it in the red sauce. 

"Whatever, Frosty," Stark shrugged almost like a spasm and looked away towards the TV. "By the way check out channel nine, I left you some stuff there if you and your hand get lonely. I guessed your taste."

Loki bit down on the fish, not turning his eyes away from Stark, letting his fingers touch his lips, and slowly licking non-existent sauce off his lips. Stark spasmed again. 

"I gave you a fork."

"Do you record everything I do?" smirked Loki. "Is that why you want to give me and my hand company?"

"Eh," Stark paled. 

Loki took up the fork and pressed it slightly it against his lower lip. Stark left the room. 

"All talk..." smirked Loki and began eating his food normally. 

Channel nine was a moaning naked woman that disturbingly reminded Loki of Amora. He turned back to the talking frog puppet and the furry counting monsters. Stark was bad at guessing. 

 

///////////////

At fourteen forty-seven Natasha Romanoff entered. She had visited him three times before. Every time she had just stood still and watched him for about thirty minutes, not saying a word. This time seemed no different. He had ignored her before, but today he had a thought. 

"Romance novels are quite educational about human nature if you read them the right way," Loki said causally. "I was reading something very interesting the other day. It seems that you can often obtain people's opinion of you by observing them watching you eat."

Romanoff just glared at him. Loki smirked as he watched her from the corner of his eye. 

"Of course you must already know this. I bet if you saw me eat as a slob, you would look at me with even more disgust than you do now. But if you were attracted to me, you would find my lack of table manners sweet, or even sexually exciting."

She narrowed her eyes marginally, almost unnoticeable. 

"It's probably a weapon in your arsenal," Loki was looking straight at her now. "You are trained to use it. You probably can't interact without using it. How do you know if people fall for you or your tricks. It must be frustrating. But you really don't care, do you? At least you have trained yourself not to care. You don't even care that I'm telling you this now."

He gave her his best teasing grin, and turned back to his book. She left so quietly that he almost didn't notice, almost. 

Twenty-one minutes later the door opened again, Loki was amused over the apparent rush-hour. 

It was the man Stark had called Bucky. He was wearing the same clothes, but his face was more weary. 

"They told you about me," Loki gave his usual calculating smile. 

"Steve said I should give you these," he held up four pastel-covered pocketbooks with his normal hand. "And he said you had some I could read. Now that I know you are here, and not flipping out over it, they are less secretive to me. So I guess I can thank you for that."

"So you are on the non-triggering diet as well?" Loki chose four of the books from one of the neatly organised piles on floor. "How is it working out for you?"

"It feels strange thinking about it," Bucky said as they exchanged books through the slot. 

"Oh," Loki looked one of the new books over. "They have actually given me one about a war. 'Gone with the wind'."

"I heard them argue about that," Bucky was looking his new books over as well. "But it was fine for me so they agreed in it. Though I'd already read it and seen the movie back in my day. About five years before I… had my fall."

Loki's head jerked up. Bucky was staring empty into space. 

"I fell, so far... They found me... They hurt me... They... They changed me... Broke me down and rebuilt me to be someone... something else..."

Bucky had dropped the books on the floor, he was clenching and in-clenching his metal fist. Loki was holding his breath. They met each other's eyes, and again recognition flared between them. 

"I believe..." said Loki with a grim tone "...if this was one of the books this would be the point for us fall helplessly in love."

"Yeah," Bucky didn't look away. 

"Do you feel anything?"

"No," Bucky gave a smile smaller than Romanoff's eye-twitch. 

"Me neither," Loki shrugged and turned away. "Anyway, thank you for the books. You are welcome back when ever you want. I'm always here."

Bucky bent down to pick up his dropped books. He was about to leave when he paused in the doorway. 

"I might take you up on that movie sometime," he said. "It gets lonely up there when they are out on missions. I don't like being alone."

"Me neither," confessed Loki. 

Bucky left. 

////////././.

At eighteen zero-zero, precisely, Barton entered with food. It was a salad in a clear plastic container, it took Loki an embarrassing four heartbeats before noting the word 'push' on the container and open it up. Barton laughed and slid him a lidded large plastic cup with something off-red and sweet-smelling with a straw. 

"I was worried you'd be pulling one off when I got here," smiled Barton mockingly. "Now that Tony gave you the gift of porn and all."

"Stark has very poor taste in erotica."

"For once we agree on something."

"Stark has also expressed an open interest to me in watching me 'pull one off', so I'm refraining from it. I'm not giving him that pleasure. It's bad enough he watches me relive myself, wash, and change clothes behind a small insufficient sheet, I still deserve some dignity."

Loki schooled an innocent look on his face. Barton had paled considerably.

"He has not said that!" breathed the archer. 

"He never stops flirting with me," Loki leaned forward. "It's scandalous."

"Shut up!"

"Or what? You take away my sheet? Stark would really like that, wouldn’t he? I could just start go around naked. It would save you doing my washing up. Is it you who does my washing up by the way? How does that feel?"

"Fuck you."

"Language, Barton. Or I'll think you are flirting with me too." Loki sucked the straw of his drink, it tasted quite good. 

Barton just stared at him for a heated moment, then he abruptly left, closing the heavy door with a violent slam. Loki giggled to himself. 

He didn't get anymore visitors that day. He read two thirds of 'Gone with the Wind'. Lights were out at twenty-three zero-zero. 

/////////////////

It was Rogers who brought him breakfast, a stack of ten pancakes covered in syrup. There was also a thermos of the red vanilla tea Banner so enjoyed. 

"Thank you for talking to Bucky," Rogers gave him a grateful smile. "He's been looking a bit better since he was down here."

"You care for him," Loki bit into a pancake. 

"Would you use it against it me if I said I did?" he crossed his muscular arms. 

"No need to say it, I already know. And of course I will use it against you."

"Of course you will," Rogers smirked. "By the way, Tony asked me to tell you he changed your party-movie. I really don't want to know what that is."

Loki grinned back. He wasn't very interested in what Stark was up to. Though if he thought about it, there was something in Stark that reminded him of those men women hated before falling head over heals for him. Loki was certainly reading too many romance books. 

"Oh, I almost forgot," Rogers turned back to the outer door and picked up a plastic bag he had left outside. "I got this nice complete boxed set of Jane Austen books by a fan, but I already read them all when I was a teenager, so I thought of you."

Loki watched as the books were being pushed inside his cage. They all had women with pretty dresses on the cover. He sighed. 

When Rogers left it was eight-sixteen, Loki was sipping his tea. He tried channel nine on the TV. The blond busty woman had been exchanged for an even bustier one with dark-hair sitting on top of a very happy man. Loki rolled his eyes and changed the channel.

There was a list of movies, Stark had shown him how to use the arrows on the remote to choose one. He noticed that some of the movies had the same titles and description as some of the books he had read. 

He chose one he hadn't heard of before, 'The Notebook', and leaned back to watch it. 

////////

 

Two hours later Loki didn't feel so good, he blamed it on the movie. Stupid stuff. After a few moments he threw the pillow he had been hugging on the floor and went behind the sheet to use the facilities. 

When he got back out Romanoff was standing by the glass. 

"I'm impressed," he said. ”I didn't hear you come in.” 

She didn't answer him, or even blink. Loki huffed. 

"You are looking to learn something from me, aren't you? There isn't do much to learn with me just sitting here getting fat and lazy. Or maybe that is want you want to see. You would rather look at me growing dull here than look on what's going on with yourself. Did you try the food-trick? Did they look at you? Did they desire you?"

Romanoff did the unnoticeable twitch again. 

"Oh, so you don't want them to desire you. You look down on those who desire you, don't you? Animals the lot of them. What would happen if they would come too close? You hide your fears, Romanoff. You hide them well, and you use them very skilfully to your advantage, but they are still there."

Loki smirked at her. He then took up 'Gone with the Wind' and searched for his place in the page marked with the napkin and started reading. Next time he looked up the book had ended, she had left and Stark was entering with dinner.

"Why the sad face, Prancer?" 

Loki swore for having been too invested in the plight of Scarlet O'Hara and schooled his face to a grim mask. He tried to not look too interested in the two pizza boxes Stark was carrying. There were two large bottles of water as well. 

Stark was wearing blue trousers and an off-white short sleeved shirt, both covered in grease and oil. He had muscular arms, not to the standards of Rogers, Thor, or what Loki had glanced of Bucky, but muscular nonetheless. There were marks of grease on his skin as well, but he seemed to have washed his hands for the food. 

Stark slid one of the pizza boxes inside the cage followed by the water.

”Sorry, there is no beer," he said as he sat down against the wall with the other pizza in his lap. "You are on an alcohol-ban. Heh, so am I for that matter. I promised to go one month without, even made a stupid bet..."

"So you are joining me for dinner?" Loki picked up his box and bottle and returned to his seat on the bed. "Is this a date?"

"I heard what you told Clint about me," Stark frowned. "He wasn't too pleased. As I see it though, you are the one flirting with me."

"Why would I ever want to do that?"

"To screw with my head?" 

"Isn't the point if this place my mind being screwed?"

"Slushpuppy, your head is screwed enough."

Loki almost smiled and picked up a pre-sliced piece of pizza. He had been given the food twice before, this time there was seafood on it. He wondered if Stark knew that he was serving Loki a delicacy. 

There wasn't any seafood on Asgard, not even fish. Such things were imported either from Alfheim or Vanaheim. There was even more plenty of fish on Jotenheim, but only fools went there to fish, Loki had done it several times. He picked up a small soft thing between his thumb and forefinger. 

"I haven't seen one of these in over a millennia," he said. "And there are twenty of them on this."

"It's just a mussel," Stark spoke with food in his mouth. 

"They only exist on Midgard," Loki put it in his mouth and chewed carefully, trying to remember the taste from long ago. 

"So..." Stark cleared his throat and Loki noticed that his host looked uncomfortable. "You beginning to talk to us has a strange coincidence with Thor going off-world, any comments on that?"

"None that I like to divulge."

Loki had no idea that Thor had left Midgard, but was glad to let the mortals think there was a conection if they wanted. 

"Gone With The Wind, eh?" Stark nodded at the book by Loki's side. "You should see the movie, a lot of people say I look a lot like Clark Gable."

"Who is that?"

"The actor who plays the guy, you know, but in the movie, what's-his-name."

"Brett Butler?"

"Yeah, I look like Brett Butler."

Loki was actually slightly chocked to realise that he actually, unconsciously to himself, had depicted Stark's face on the man in the book. He pushed away the pizza, and took a gulp of water instead. It was one thing to be consciously trying to mess with Stark, a whole other thing doing it unawares to yourself. 

"You don't have to be that disgusted," huffed Stark. "It's just what people have told me, girls actually. Well, one girl. She was sober at the time, or at least I think she was... Anyway, what are you up to for the rest of the day?"

"Pride and Prejudice," Loki held up one of the books that Rogers gave him. "Sounds like the story if my non-father's life."

"I was going to say your life," Stark chewed for a few moments. "You are a fast reader."

"Practice makes perfect, and these are not complicated texts."

"We'll be running out of books to give you, if you don't mind re-reading some of them. Perhaps we can get you a Harlequin subscription, or a Reader's Digest. Do you like crossword puzzles?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Loki took up the pizza again, he wasn't going to waste fine food like that. Stark sat musing aloud to himself, suggesting titles of reading materials and movies that Loki had no clue of knowing. It was marginally interesting, but Loki pretended not to care.

He forgot to eat the pizza as sensually as he could this time, but he had several things on his mind. Including of how he himself reacted to see Stark eat. In frustration he threw the empty water bottle on the glass when he caught himself thinking about the small crumb that was stuck in Stark's beard. 

Stark took that as his abrupt cue to leave. He promised to look around for some appropriate magazines. 

It was thirteen zero-nine. Loki took up Pride and Prejudice, read the first sentence, sighed, put the book down, took it up again, and started to read again from the top. 

//////////

He had gotten about a quarter into the book when he got his third visitor of the day. For a prisoner in a solitary cell he had quite a social following. Loki marked his place with the napkin and greeted Bucky with a nod. 

"They have all been called out on a mission," said the man leaning his forehead against the thick glass wall. "I wish I could do the same. I'm a soldier, in supposed to fight. Not sit around reading cute stuff. I'm not even allowed to go to the gym without supervision."

The last word was punctuated with a hard metal fist against the glass. Nothing happened, it would take Mjölner to make even a crack. It seemed to frustrate Bucky. 

Loki stood up, he didn't want an accidental breakout. 

"At least you have more than four walls to stare at."

"I thought you said you wanted to be in there."

"Of course I don't want to be in here!" Loki spat and glared to where he knew one of the cameras were. "I am a god!" He took a calming breath. "But it's all a matter or timing and convenience."

Bucky was looking him over with a calculating frown. Loki sat down. 

"What was the mission?"

"Like they tell me. How's about that movie?"

Loki huffed and retrieved the remote that fallen down the side of the bad. He located the choice menu on the TV and started to go through the titles. 

"You have an even worse restriction than me on that thing," noted Bucky as he sat down in the floor with his back against the glass. 

"I presume that your restrictions don't include magic or other worlds."

Loki pressed something called 'Bridges of Madison County' and leaned back, slightly wishing he had a snack of some kind. 

Two hours and little less than a quarter later both Loki and Bucky refused to look at each other. Bucky left without a word and Loki was grateful for it. 

///////////////////

Nobody had brought him his evening meal by nineteen seventeen. 

Not that Loki was worried, and he wasn't pacing. It would be an irritation though if the Avengers were gone and he would be forced to bide his time in the hands of SHEILD. Agencies were a little more tedious to out-age than mere mortals. 

He had read about another quarter of 'Pride and Prejudice', before discovering he imagined Stark's face on Darcy. It wasn't because if that that he wasn't pacing. It was because of the food. He was hungry, that was all. 

Thirty-seven minutes later the door finally opened. It was Romanoff that entered. Her red hair was damp but it didn't cover the blood-crusted cut on her forehead or the bruise over her right eye. She was also holding her left arm in a way that made Loki suspect that it had been dislocated and then out back into place. She was carrying a red paper bag with a large yellow letter 'M' on it. 

"Did you have a nice time with your friends?" asked Loki. "Play rough?"

Her red lipstick didn't cover her broken lip when she smiled darkly at him. It must have been a really painful blow to her face. Loki could have teased her for the loss to her beauty, but he wisely held his tongue. 

"If you were the fittest to come down here..." he smiled back at her while looking over the bag she had just pushed through the slot "...I would love to see the others."

She gave him a glare that actually bordered on scaring him. When she left he noticed a small limp. The fight, with whoever it was, must have been vicious. Loki was sad not to have seen it. 

He opened his red paper bag and took out what he knew was called a hamburger wrapped in a piece of paper, a box of greasy salty potato sticks, and a disgustingly sweet and fizzy drink. There was also something in a smaller plastic casing that looked like a small plastic doll in a pink dress. Loki was sure that it was Stark who had slipped that in. 

Which meant Stark wasn't hurt enough to loose his stupid sense of humour.

Loki emptied the disgusting drink down in the facilities before returning to the rest of his meal and his book. He swore out loud when lights were turned off just as Elisabeth was accepting Mr Darcy's proposal. 

He read the rest of the book standing with his back to the glass and holding up the book to the dim light of the TV. He really missed his magic at that moment. What wouldn't he give for one of his small flames?

////////////

Loki was awoken by Banner arriving with breakfast. It was the first time he hadn't been awake when anyone entered. It was humiliating. 

It felt a bit better when he saw that Banner looked very roughed up and tired, he hadn't even shaved. Loki smiled at the scientist who just grunted back. 

"Good night sleep, doctor?"

"I wish Tony could hire someone to look after you," grumbled Banner. "I have better things to do than cooking you breakfast." 

Three boiled eggs, two apples, a banana, and the compulsory thermos of tea didn't seem to Loki to be such a task. He took them gracefully though, hoping that his lack of teasing would get some information out of the tired man. 

"You seem quite unharmed," he said leaning back as he knocked one of the eggs to the edge of the tray to break the shell. 

"The Hulk isn't that easy to harm," Banner was collecting the trash from Loki's evening meal. "All of this packaging is a waste. I wish they could just use the ready-made in the fridge than buying unhealthy stuff like this. I try to tell them..."

"So who did you gallantly thwart yesterday?"

"Oh," Banner interrupted his little rant and looked up at Loki. "A Hydra cell. It seems like they have gone from plans of world-domination to just plain terrorism." He hesitated for a moment. "Don't tell Bucky." 

Loki nodded as he chewed, he hadn't a clue who Hydra was but guessed that they were very dangerous foes to the Avengers. They seemed to put up great resistance against them anyway. He wondered over the state of the rest of the team. 

"I saw the widow being a lovely shade of blood last night," Loki out some nonchalance in his voice. "Are the rest of your little friends the same?"

"I will send them your regards," Banner sighed and left the room. 

Loki swore to himself. He hadn't wanted to know the health of Rogers or Barton anyway. Nor Stark.

In frustration he turned on the TV and pressed on the movie called 'TItanic'.

////////////////

 

Loki was certain that he was being brainwashed. He hadn't known the term before last time coming to Midgard, but after being accused of having done it several times himself, he was beginning to understand the concept. He wondered what their aim was. 

Maybe just to drive him mad. They were not far from it, since he wasn't that stable to begin with. 

At seven minutes after twelve zero-zero, not long after the movie had ended, Romanoff arrived with food. It seemed to be one of those ready-made things that Banner had advertised earlier, some kind of fish with vegetables. She seemed more rested and not as stiff. Her eye was quite blue and swollen though. 

It reminded Loki that it had been a while since Fury had called on him. He hoped it was a continuous trend. 

"Is there anything good on?" she asked, nodding to the TV. 

It was the first thing she had said to him since they brought him in. 

"You tell me." 

Loki turned the TV on to the 'choice menu', the few movies he had seen were in blue letters while the unseen were in black. Romanoff gave a small laughing hum. Further proof that she was secretly in on the brainwashing concept. 

"You aren't given much choice here," she said pulling out a foldable chair from a small vent. 

"Well, there is the alternative of the erotica Stark sends me, but that is never a really good choice."

"Haven't guessed your type yet, has he?" 

"No," Loki smirked. "How is he, by the way? He's late for his mocking me with idiotic names."

"None of your business. Now put on 'Pretty Woman' before I press the emergency button."

There were three emergency buttons actually. Loki had had them all demonstrated to him before entering the glass cage. He didn't like to think of them. One would engulf everything in the cell with fire, one would let out a toxic gas that would at least knock him out for several hours, and the last one took away any protection the had from stopping the Bifrost to snatch him up. Neither was any fun. 

Loki pressed play. 

He began to eat his food slowly as Romanoff sat down, her view of Loki and the TV was equal. He smirked. It was hard to see, but he could tell she was worried. 

Was it worry for her friends, or for trying to seem relaxed around him? Though as the movie progressed she seemed to loosen up a bit. 

"Is that what you are looking for?" asked Loki to disguise his feelings when the movie ended. "Someone to rescue you? Or someone to rescue? Take it from someone who has actually been around knights from several realms, they are never what they are cracked up to be."

"Can't you just enjoy something without analysing it?" Romanoff seemed to be in a good mood from the movie despite the irritation in her voice. 

"Who is your knight, Miss Romanoff? Was he hurt in that fight yesterday?"

"I don't need a knight!" she seemed to spit at the very idea of such a thing. 

"But still you feel a need to be rescued? Are you like that girl waiting for someone to give you the means to show who you really are?"

"What I am..." She was now standing by the glass looking very cross at him "...is a killer, a soldier, a spy, and a weapon."

"So not a woman then?"

She had even less potential than Bucky to break the glass but that didn't stop her from hitting it. She couldn't all the way hide the wince of pain running from her recently dislocated shoulder. Loki got the message though. He didn't mock her further but let her leave after a few heartbeats. 

Loki waited for a few minutes to see if anything else would happen, watching the small pink doll. When nothing did he took up the next book in his Jane Austen series, 'Emma', and started to read. 

///////////

At seventeen forty-seven both Rogers and Bucky entered. Rogers had his arm in a supportive sling but other ways he seemed fine, he even smiled as Loki put the book away. Bucky on the other hand seemed very concerned over the captain, even holding the door open for him. 

Again Loki wondered over Stark, because if even Rogers had been injured, then what of the armoured man? Rogers was carrying a large black steaming pot, but Bucky took it from him and conveyed it through the slot of the cage. It fitted precisely, as if someone had calculated it. 

"Good evening," Loki noticed a very delicious smell coming from the food. "I heard that you where in a nasty fight yesterday."

"Yeah," Rogers laughed a bit uncomfortably. "We were actually wondering what you know about it."

"Me?" Loki shook his head, taking the pot of food. "Why would I know anything? I have been here where you left me." 

He lifted the lid and made a small gasp against his will. The pot was filled with mussels, shells of black, blue and silver, the meat fleshy orange, and steaming with the scent of onion and garlic.

"He meant about the weapons," said Bucky taking out something looking like a firearm, though a light-grey colour and glowing blue handle. "He thinks you might know something about these."

Loki looked up from the pot, trying to hide his impatience to start eating. The blue glow in buky’s hands was certainly familiar, but nothing else. Loki put the pot on his small table and moved up to the glass. He watched as Bucky picked the weapon apart with ease, and noticing Rogers' worried looks. The soldier wasn't happy with his friend handling this weapon. 

"Hydra..." Rogers shot a glance at Bucky but then continued. "Hydra were the ones that found the Teseract about seventy years ago in the place your people had left it..."

Loki didn't oppose vocally to Asgard being called his people, but his heart did. He took one of the mussels between his fingers and gauged the meat out with a fork. He put it nonchalantly in his mouth and chewed slowly as he listened to the Captain. 

"They had it in their possession for several months before I... I took it from them. But they managed to so quite a lot of research in that time. Among other things, this energy-source for weapons and... Well, this is what is important for now."

Bucky held up a single blue glowing capsule, about the size of his smallest finger, to the glass. 

"Tony says the radiation resembles the Teseract, and also the element he himself invented, but it's still nothing like either of them. It's a known Earth element, but used in a way that he haven't seen before."

"Stark said that?" Loki hoped that his voice didn't seemed too relived. 

He had had his suspicions about who sent him the mussels, who else, but hearing directly that Stark was not too injured made him glad we then he'd thought he'd be. 

"He's been in his lab ever since we came back yesterday," sighed Rogers. "He finally agreed to let us show this you." 

Loki didn't know why he felt so relived. He cleared his throat and picked at one of the shells. 

"Can I hold it?" he asked. 

Rogers looked hesitant, but Bucky had already pushed it through the slot. Loki put the seaming pot aside and took the glowing capsule in his hand. There wasn't any magic, but there was power. He felt it over a bit more, but he wouldn't be able to access the power without breaking the casing, and that would be foolish without some kind of protection in place. 

It had disappointingly no use to him what so ever in here. It wasn't even able to store small amounts of his restrained magic in. Now that would have been useful.

The fact that it had been engendered from the Tesaract was only mildly interesting under the circumstances. Loki was more interested in the element Stark had created. If that had been what had protected Stark during the invasion, it was very interesting indeed. 

"I don't advice you to open it up," Loki pushed the useless capsule back though the slot. "It seems quite unstable."

He returned to his food, it seemed best to consume it while warm. It was very good. He knew mussels weren't that rare on Midgard, but he thought that someone had remembered something that Loki liked was. And this was, most likely Stark remembering. 

"Do you think it can be explosive?" Rogers looked the capsule over. 

"Of course it is," said Bucky, taking it from him and reconstructing the weapon again. "That's why we took it from Stark in the first place."

"But you could feel it?" Rogers asked Loki. "The energy? With your bare skin?"

"Yes," Loki chewed his food, looking thoughtfully at the little pink toy he had received yesterday. "Can't you?"

"None of us can," he shook his head. "Not even Bruce."

"Interesting," said Loki, and it was so he looked up from his thoughts about Stark. "Why are you showing me this? It breaks my restrictions."

The captain hesitated again, but Bucky spoke, him being able to talk freely was probably the reason Rogers had brought him. 

"Hawkeye was hit with a blast from the weapon," Bucky glanced at Rogers as the man winced badly. "He is in intensive care."

"Do you know how we can counter it if we get attacked again?" interrupted Rogers. "Without breaking it and creating an explosion?"

Loki now understood Romanoff's and Banner's moods. He thought of Stark working relentlessly trying to understand what had hurt his friend. He took and other mussel in his mouth and chewed as he pretended to come up an answer he already had. 

"I would use a larger even source of energy to neutralise it. Maybe Stark's own element?"

Loki had no idea if it would work but it would do good for a long distance experiment. He was sure they would tell him about the results and Stark's element would be a little more known to him. 

Loki took up his food again as the two men left. He could clearly see how they cared for each other. He had certainly found one of the sources of the Captain's depression. He lived finding soft spots in strong people. 

"Do send my well wishes to Barton."

He didn't get any more visitors that day. 

//////////////

Or at least not before the light went out. 

He was standing up against the glass reading the finishing lines of 'Emma' by the light of the TV, when the outer door opened. Loki ignored his late visitor in favour of finishing the book. He stopped himself in the middle if the third to last sentence when he heard Stark's voice. 

"If you wanted a nightlight you should just have asked."

The words where slightly slurred. Stark was intoxicated. Loki patiently took in the two last lines of the book before turning around looking at the man in the shadows. There didn't seem to be any visual damage from the fight. 

"Would you get me one if I asked?"

"That depends on how nice you ask," Stark smiled. "I used to have a nightlight imbedded my chest, it was very practical. I miss it sometimes. Did you like your dinner?"

"It was satisfactory. Thank you."

Stark grunted and lifted a bottle up to his mouth, it sloshed wetly as he drank. 

"I thought you weren't allowed alcoholic beverages."

"Fuck it," Stark drank again. "I won their stupid bet. I made a month without booze, that's calls for a celebration. See! I brought one for you as well."

He held up another bottle. Loki shook his head in amusement as Stark tried to balance the two bottles at the same time as he tried to angle one if them into the slot. His intoxication and the bad lighting did nothing to help. 

"Screw it," Stark slurred taking a few unsteady steps to the inner door and placed his hand against the plate. 

The inner door opened. Loki held his breath. It would be so easy to push Stark aside and just run. He probably only needed to get a few meters away from the dampening fields to get access to his magic, he could be free in moments. 

He thought about it as Stark crossed the threshold. But then there it was, his old excuses, the ones he used twice now to Bucky. Bad timing, no allies, no place to go. 

Stark held out the bottle to him. The light from the TV was really bad but he saw the liquid was dark amber. Loki took the bottle with a sigh. The door closed behind Stark. 

"You have it really cosy here," Stark sat down on the bed, having another drink. 

"Except from the sheet," said Loki opening the bottle, it made a cracking sound as it's seal broke. "But I'm getting used to it."

He took a swig, it tasted very strong and of apples. 

"Calvados," informed Stark. "From Normandy. France. Have you been there?"

"Not in this millennia," Loki took another swig. 

”That’s not a brag, this mi-mille-in-ria is only fourteen years old," Stark slurred and patted the place next to him on the bed. "I can too say I have not been in Normandy this mill-mille-renn-ria. But I have! Seven months ago on a stupid meeting about stupid hydrator pumps with some stupid tech."

"Hm," Loki sat down next to Stark, feeling a pleasant warmth spreading inside his throat and stomach. 

"But I got this stuff. I prefer scotch. The baschtards took my scotch! Feel bad for me. Do you feel bad for me?"

"Actually," Loki took and other drink of his bottle. "I feel better now than I gave done in a long time."

"So fucking dark," swore Stark, his voice more slurred by the second. "Gimme that!"

He leaned over Loki to reach the remote. As he got up Stark was still very close to him. Loki didn't feel uncomfortable and resented himself for it. Stark fumbled over the remote to find something that would bring more light than the choice screen. 

Stark managed to turn on the erotica. This time it was two men happily contorted in each other. Stark's smug grin was mildly amusing. Loki forcefully took the remote from him, turned the TV off, and threw the remote out or reach of both of them. 

"Spoilsport," said Stark into the room that now only was lit by the red clock numbers. 

"I don't know what's worse," Loki sighed, taking another pleasing drink from his bottle. "The Avengers' attempts of brainwashing, or your attempts of seduction. Your romantic gifts of food and drink are not working by the way."

"Se-duction?" Stark's bottle made a noise when he hit his teeth with items hiccuped at the same time. 

"How is Barton?" Loki sighed, wondering why he let his mouth run away with imagination and snark. 

"Bitchy," Stark sighed as well. "He's fine but with burns. Heh, butt."

They both drank slowly as the clock changed its last number. Loki felt Stark lean his head against his shoulder. 

"Why'd you think I'd se-se-ruche you?"

Loki wondered how much Stark had drunk before deciding to come down here. By his continued degenerating speech he'd say it was quite a lot. 

"It was just a joke."

"I like jokes."

"You fill my head with nothing else but romance for two weeks and you wonder why I fall in love with you."

Loki quickly drank again. He shouldn't be drinking if he blurted things like that, but he really needed a drink after blurting it. 

"Love?"

"Shut up, Stark. You are drunk."

"Am not."

"Yes you are."

"Yes I'm."

They sat in the dark and drank. After a few minutes Stark was quietly snoring on his shoulder. Loki finished his bottle, just because he could, and leaned his own head on Stark's until he fell asleep himself. 

//////////////////

 

Loki was awoken by an irritating rapping on the glass. He huffed and tried to understand what was wrong with his leg. 

"Excuse me?" said a patient voice. "If you wouldn't mind."

Loki opened his eyes. He was laying on his side on his bed curled up with his pillow and empty bottle in his arms. What was different was that Stark was possessively hugging his left thigh and resting his head on Loki's buttock. The man was also drooling, it wasn't cute. It wasn't. Not one bit. 

"Could you please wake him up?" asked Banner with a very controlled voice. "So that Steve and Nat can yell at him? I'll be in my room, calming down."

Loki nodded and watched Banner leave. There was breakfast, and a new book, by the slot. 

"Get off me," he kicked his leg free. 

Stark moaned and got hold of the blankets to hug instead. Loki got to his food and ate it while watching the man start to lightly snore. That wasn't cute either. 

Loki leaned against the glass and took up the book. 'American Nature Photography' it was called. It had grand images of trees, fields, rivers, mountains, and deserts. It was quite beautiful, and all within the same land. The other realms differed from each other but not so much within themselves. 

He could hear the door behind him open again and the soft intake of air revealed it to be Rogers. Loki turned the leaf in the book and studied the red sand of a grand canyon. He smirked to himself. He had enjoyed waking up with Stark, but he didn't need anyone else to know. 

"Good morning, Captain," he said without turning away from the image. "Are you here to assist me in getting my sleeping space back?"

"I thought so," said Rogers. "Could you wake him?"

"And what would you give me in exchange?"

"Are... Are you holding him hostage?"

"I haven't thought about it," Loki put the book on the floor and got up to face Rogers. "But if I were, what would you give me?"

"You are not in a position to bargain." Rogers' fists tightened. 

"Relax," Loki smirked. "I have enough problems."

He walked over to the bed and shook Stark. 

"Get up," he called. "Get up, your friends wants to flay you."

"Don'wanna," murmured Stark. 

Rogers seemed quite impatient by now. Loki leaned closer down to Stark. 

"Get up, you cretin," he hissed. "Or I will make you..."

Stark grabbed hold of him and planted a deep kiss on his lips. At first Loki tried to fight it, but he gently gave in. He could hear Rogers breathe harder behind him but he didn't care. 

Stark suddenly let go, smacked his lips in tired condition, and looked around. His hair was a mess and his lips were red. Loki took a few steps back, not knowing what to do. 

"Fuck, my head hurts," said Stark. "Hey Cap! You wouldn't have any Advil would you?"

"Anthony Edward Stark," Rogers' face was red and his voice restrained. "You get out of the prisoner's cell this moment and come with me." 

"Prisoner..." Stark looked around, his eyes landing on Loki. "Oh."

Loki rubbed the side if his hand against his mouth. Then be went behind his sheet, the thought of them watching him made him feel uncomfortable. 

He listened as Stark got up, collected the empty bottles, and left the cell. He could hear agitated whispering from the other side of the glass, and then silence. They had left the outer room.

Loki did his morning routine and changed to clothes he hadn't been sleeping in, not that it mattered. 

Taking his thermos of tea, he debated if he should watch a movie or read a book. He chose the book, and took up 'Sense and Sensibility'. He forced Stark out if his mind. It worked well enough until he realised he was using Stark's face as the face of Edmund, and by then it was too late. 

"They are brainwashing me," he murmured as he turned the page. "Just not in the way the hoped for."

///////////////

 

It was Romanoff who brought him lunch at twelve thirty-seven. She seemed marginally happier which probably meant she was very happy indeed. To add to Loki's suspicions she also gave him a piece of chocolate cake. 

"I thought you were going to accuse me of seducing Stark."

"I saw the footage," she shrugged. "He only has himself to blame if he gets seduced. Anyway, your suggestion of using the arc-reactor cured Clint's radiation sickness, so you deserve some cake."

Loki had no idea what she was talking about but took the credit anyway. 

"Of course it did," he grinned. 

She saw through him with a condescending smile. 

"Steve showed you the kind of weapon with Clint had been hit with. Thanks to you we discovered the radiation and the cure."

"Hence cake," Loki bit into the soft chocolate, it was very nice indeed. 

Maybe he should keep helping if this was the reward. Wasn't this they way one trained pets? Romanoff leaned against the glass. 

"You usually wait with desert until after you eaten your food."

"Desert is food."

She actually gave him a real smile this time. 

"I still don't trust you."

"Good girl," Loki licked his fingers. 

"By the way," she said as she turned to leave. "I would expect you to get a visit from Steve today. He's a bit upset over you."'

"Any new reasons, or just the same ones?"

"We all saw the footage from last night," Romanoff winked at him. "You are welcome to figure out the part that upset him the most."

She closed the door behind her. 

Loki ate his meat and vegetable stew, thinking back on last night. He hadn't been as affected as Stark, that would have been impossible, especially with Stark's head-start. Could it have been that blurted comment of... love? Had he really said that?

He wasn't really in love with Stark. What a ridiculous notion! They hadn't even had a real conversation not involving snark and teasing. Two weeks of romance novels and Loki, god of mischief, falls for a mortal bringing him mussels and strong apple wine. 

He mustn't forget who built this prison in the first place. And who hung that degrading sheet. And who thought he would like that vile erotica. To take his mind off it he continued reading 'Sense And Sensibility', it was distracting but not all in a good way. 

///////////////

Loki had expected Rogers to be his next visitor, mostly because Romanoff had said so, so he was both surprised and a bit disappointed when the outer door opened at fourteen fifty-three and revealed Thor. He had to quickly change his expectant smile to neutral grumpiness. 

"How are you, Brother?" asked the large man. 

"Not your brother," answered Loki. 

"Maybe not in blood," Thor touched the glass gently. "But in spirit you will always be my brother."

Loki just huffed and looked passed Thor to Banner who was stepping into the room behind him. He raised an eyebrow as the doctor walked over to the inner door. 

"Is it time for more tests already?" he asked. 

"Yes, though this time there isn't any needles involved," Banned held up a set of large solid handcuffs. "Unless you decide to resist us."

"Where are we going?" Loki held out his hands, letting Banner put the cuffs around his lower arms. 

"There is a late-lunch-early-dinner upstairs," Banner held out his arm to indicate that Loki should step out of the cell and go to Thor. "You are the guest of honour, so to speak, and we would be happy if you acted like one."

"Am I to eat with these on?" Loki recognised the cuffs as the same ones he had been taken back to Asgard with after his defeat, Thor must have brought them with him. 

"Yes, improvise," Banner gestured again, a little impatient. 

It felt strange stepping out of the cell, Loki was bothered with how much he seemed to associate the small glass room with safety. Thor held out an arm and put his hand on Loki's back. It was a caring gesture, but it was also guiding and firm. Loki allowed it, mostly cause he didn't really know which way to go and didn't want to make a fool of himself by walking in the wrong direction. 

He wouldn't had to have worried since the two men brought him to the same elevator that he had been brought down with. Banner pressed the top-button, it scanned his finger with a red light before the doors slid shut. Loki stood silently contemplating the ride as they rose upwards. 

Suddenly he was overwhelmed by daylight. The sides of the elevator were filled with the view of the large city as they rose higher and higher up. Tall buildings, small vehicles, and the movement of people and reflective sunlight in the reflective surfaces. Loki turned his face towards Thor's chest plate and the too familiar patterns there to collect himself from the sight.

They quickly reached the top floor, Thor's gentle hand steered Loki out to a room he more than recognised. The floor and the window had been replaced, otherwise it was the same. Stark was standing by the bar pouring drinks. He twitched slightly when Loki entered but gave half a smile in greeting. 

Loki shrugged off Thor's hand as he looked around for the others. Romanoff was sitting on a sofa next to Barton. He was pale, his face full of bandages, and there was a blanket draped over his shoulders. The two spies seemed weary of Loki but not in a direct hostile way. 

Rogers and Bucky were standing by a table next to the far window, setting up plates and glasses. There was actually going to be food, Loki had thought that Banner had been sarcastic.

Stark came forward with a small glass holding it up to Loki.

"Scotch?" he asked, charm in place. 

"Thank you," Loki took the glass with both his hands, it was simpler. 

Their fingers touched, he wondered if it had been on purpose. Where they using his blurted out lines of affection towards Stark to lure him into something? He sipped his drink, looking around the room for more clues of his situation. 

"We have been discussing what to do with you," Banner sighed, sitting down on the sofa next to Barton. 

"And?" Loki raised an eyebrow. 

He tried to look casual with his glass of liquor and handcuffs. He wasn't sure it was working, but he got Stark's eyes on him. He tried to look desirable, not that he knew what to look, or that it had worked in any of the books he had read. Loki cursed himself for doing it. He tried to focus on Rogers as the captain cleared his throat. 

"We were thinking of using you in a consultatory capacity."

"Too big words, Steve," snorted Stark.

"I understand them," said Loki with a glare at the cursed object of his damned affection. 

"I meant for him," Stark smiled. "I had no doubt about you, sweetcheeks."

"Very funny, Tony," huffed Rogers. "And stop with the flirting."

"He likes it!" protested Tony with a gesture to Loki who couldn't help but smile. 

They were interrupted by Romanoff, her voice firm and nearly at the end of her tether. 

"This of course only on a trial basis," she reminded Loki. "If you do anything, anything, to take away our trust you will be sent back to the cell and stay there at least until we rot."

"You caught up on that, did you?" Loki smirked. 

"It was obvious to us that you were just biding your time. Also Thor told us that it's what you usually do when caught."

Loki smirked at his non-brother, Thor gave him a condescending, but loving, smile back. 

"So," asked Loki as he was guided to the set table. "Are you going to take away the magic dampeners?" 

"No," said Rogers as he filled Loki's plate with spaghetti.

"Are you easing up on the entertainment restrictions?" 

"Nope," Barton helped himself to a piece of bread. 

"Am I allowed to go outside?"

"Not for all the rice in China," said Banner placing a large bowl of salad on the table. 

"Then why should I do anything you say?"

"I might be persuaded to go on a date with you," said Stark, sitting down next to him with a wolffish grin. "Inside of my penthouse, of course."

Loki looked at him for a moment. To be honest, just to be out of the cell was reward enough for now, anything else was a bonus. Not that he was going to let that on. He still had plenty of time to wait them out. 

"It's a start," he said with a smile and took up the fork.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it :)  
> Please follow me on Tumbler if you want to, I'm multiplefangasms.


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